Roman Architecture Influence Essay

History is known to influence our modern day society in many ways we have never thought about. The Roman are known to be one of the greatest early river civilizations. . Our society has borrowed so many elements from the Romans as they had many bright ideas and forward-thinking notions. In fact, many of their ideas still exist in our culture today. In our modern day society, we have so many things in our daily lives that have been influenced by the Romans.

We might of have never notice or know because we simply think well someone from our time invented such things from government, art, literature religion and other things date back to the days of the Romans. The Romans have been one of the sources that have affected the modern day society government of the United states of America. The founding fathers of our nation have used the Roman Government as the base to our modern day government. The Roman government was a type of democracy.

The system contained a Senate and was in charge of making laws and deciding on important courses of actions and also worked with the people. At this time, the Romans had the fear that there would be an unbalance in their powers and separated the government into three parts: the judicial branch, the legislative branch, and the executive branch. Our government to this day is split up into those same three branches, each one to be in balance and check each other. One important area of influence also coming from the Romans was the law. The first law code in Roman history was the Law of the Twelve Tables.

Roman law developed the division between public law, in which the state is directly involved, such as with issues of treason and taxation, and private law, concerned with disputes between people, such as over contracts. Their system was the base for what is now known as Civil law. Roman laws furthermore influenced the development of private international laws. Romans had indictments and jury trials, similar to today’s practices in our government. Many defense techniques currently occupied can likewise be traced back to Roman procedures.

The idea of “innocent until proven guilty,” which stressed the United States criminal justice system also came from ancient Roman ideas. While the Romans have left a printed effect in our government their lifestyles have influenced the society of today, Our lifestyles in modern day are very similar if no the same the Ancient Romans from culture, literature, religion, customs, entertainment and so on. Romans are responsible for the spread of the Latin Language, which formed the basis for languages such as English.

In fact, some educators in our society teach Latin as a tool to help their students understand better the English language. Latin roots form the foundation of a good majority of common words. In this generation, English is the world’s third most spoken language and will soon become the first most spoken language still carrying the Roman Latin language. According to messenger-English, while English has hundreds of words that originate in Latin, the language of the Romans had a much greater impact on the tongues of the French, Spanish, Italians, Portuguese, and Romanians.

These languages are known as Romance languages due to their origin in the Roman language. There are more than 800 million speakers of these languages around the world today. The Romance languages are spoken on every continent and are evidence of the popularity of at least parts of Latin on the average people after the soldiers and grammarians left according to messenger-English. Many people do not know, but the months of the year were formally from the Latin language, but later on translated into English; they have the same root word.

Literature is another area where Roman influences are prominent. Many writers have been influenced by the Romans including Shakespeare (Julius Caesar, Antony, and Cleopatra), Robert Graves (I Claudius), Milton (Paradise Lost), Dante (Inferno) and James Joyce (Ulysses). Today many of our most favorable books such as Romeo and Juliet. In ancient Rome, there was a large gap between the patricians and the plebians. Today, many rich people live in extravagant mansions, while the poor live in small houses or apartments, this hasn’t changed.

Many families in Rome would throw lavishing dinner feast, depending on social class mostly only patricians did this. They had many guests over and served various courses of food. In the modern world today, people have dinner parties around holidays or special events that such a birthday, such that it has become a tradition to have special dinner parties in the society of today. In ancient Rome many Romans loved accessories, they were very popular and they had custom clothing that was made to fit any person’s personality.

To this day, we still follow the roman way of dressing as we love to add accessories to stand out or personalize and outfit, also, the way many people dress in our times represent their personalities and emotions, For example if I am a happy and creative person I would wear bright and colorful clothing items. We might not realize it but the Roman culture has been passed down, shared and communicated to everyone in our society. The tradition of Roman architecture has had an important influence on American architecture and their elements can be traced back.

The Romans engaged in extensive city-building activities as they consolidated their empire. Roman military and colonial towns were laid out in a variation of the highly planned grid. Developments in the architecture of fortification, relating to compact space and fast maneuverability, and the discovery of perspective, focusing the description on the eye of the viewer, led to the radial focus in city plans and the development of ideal town plans. Many courthouses throughout America can be seen to be based on Roman architecture.

A particularly striking example is the U. S. Supreme Court building in Washingon. Designed by Cass Gilbert, the core of the building can be seen to be directly based on the Roman Temple type including the characteristics of being raised on a podium and approached by a formal front staircase. Like Roman temples, the free-standing columns only appear on the front of the Supreme Court building. Like many of the other major public buildings in Washington, the exterior of the Supreme Court is dressed in white marble. The choice of marble was deliberate to echo the authority of Roman formal architecture.

The biography of Augustus describes how when Augustus transformed Rome from a city of brick to a city of marble. The decision to base courthouse designs in America on Roman temples is understandable when it is remembered that our legal system traces its authority back to the tradition of Roman law. Latin is still the language of legal authority. Monuments directly delivered from Roman forms adorn many American cities. For example, in New York City there is the Washington Square Arch derived from the traditions of Roman Triumphal Arches.

Baltimore’s Washington Monument was clearly based on the form of the Column of Trajan. Consider the prominent position in American cities given to equestrian statues of great Revolutionary or Civil War generals. Roman theaters have also had a considerable influence on the development of theaters in modern society. The architecture of the American Founding also showed a predilection for the Roman aesthetic sense. It’s not too much of a stretch to assert that the buildings and monuments lining the National Mall in Washington, DC — with its stately, classical architecture — resemble a Roman colony.

The Capitol was inspired by Renaissance models that, in turn, were loosely based on the Roman Pantheon. Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, looks like a Roman temple. (Employee. oneta) The legacy of Romans left lasting and evident impacts on various aspects of a modern day society. Many things in our lives can be traced to Roman origins, language, architecture, lifestyle and government. The involvement of Roman influences in today’s society is clearly significant and far-reaching as we have used it for inspiration in so many ways. In many ways, our country was planned to resemble a roman style.